DURHAM, N.C. — What we learned while watching North Carolina make sure there would be no last-second heroics by Austin Rivers this time around, dominating with an 88-70 win on Saturday night at Cameron Indoor Stadium:

Duke fails 'the eye test'

There essentially are six teams in competition for the final two No. 1 seeds in the NCAA Tournament, behind locks Kentucky and Syracuse.

On paper, Duke’s resume is beyond reproach. The Blue Devils — No. 2 in the RPI heading into Saturday's action — have huge wins against Michigan State, Kansas and North Carolina, and all three of those occurred away from the confines of Cameron Indoor. In fact, they’re 13-2 in true road games and on neutral court games. The Devils' worst loss is to Miami, a team on the NCAA bubble.

But none of those other five potential No. 1s — North Carolina, Kansas, Missouri, Ohio State and Michigan State — were dominated on their home court the way Duke was dominated Saturday night. This has been an odd season at Cameron. The Devils lost, obviously, to Miami and Florida State but barely survived games against Belmont, St. John’s, N.C. State and Virginia Tech. None of those teams will get at-large berths in the NCAA Tournament.

It’s hard to imagine the Selection Committee has watched these performances — the inconsistency is the most consistent thing about Duke this season — and will deem the Blue Devils worthy of a spot on the top seed line.

Marshall better than ever

With Harrison Barnes and Tyler Zeller on the bench with four fouls and the Tar Heels trying to stave off an increasingly realistic comeback attempt by Duke on Saturday night, point guard Kendall Marshall took what was maybe the most confident jumper of his career.

The shot clock was winding down, and the Blue Devils were threatening to cut Carolina’s lead to single digits for the first time since the game’s first five minutes. Marshall had the ball just to the left of the top of the key. He’d been creating issues for the Duke defense all game with his ability to penetrate, so he had a little bit of breathing room.

That’s all he needed. Marshall stepped into the shot just in front of the 3-point arc, held his form and watched the ball drop through the net with 4:04 left. That pushed Carolina’s lead back to 13 points and knocked the wind out of the Cameron Crazies. That started the 7-0 run that put away the Blue Devils.

On a night where all five Carolina starters had at least a dozen points, Marshall led the team with his 20 points—and 10 assists, too—on 7-of-15 shooting.

Senior night the only highlight

On their first two possessions, the Blue Devils fed Miles Plumlee, the veteran big man who was honored before the game on Senior Night. Both times, the eldest of the three Duke Plumlee brothers delivered — on a nifty spin move against Zeller with 19:34 left and then on a turnaround baseline jumper with 18:51 on the first-half clock.

That seemed to be the perfect start to a potentially memorable night for Duke. But things went downhill quickly. The Blue Devils didn’t make another field goal for more than seven minutes, when Seth Curry hit a 3-pointer with 11:12 left in the first half. Before that triple, the Tar Heels had built up a stunning 17-point lead.

By halftime, the Heels had extended their lead to 24 points. The numbers were jaw-dropping. Carolina had 20 field goals, 32 rebounds and 48 points in the first half. Duke had nine field goals, 15 rebounds and 24 points.